6 days (hitch)hiking the first long-distance trail in Turkey #

My super-spontaneous trip to Turkey and an even more spontaneous hiking/hitchhiking adventure with my new Turkish friend Emel.

I’m terrible at making plans. I booked my flight two days before leaving, purely because it was the only affordable option out of Berlin on the day my Schengen Visa expired. None of what followed would have happened if it had been planned. My best travel memories rarely are.

Then I met Emel who is endlessly up for anything, in the best way.

Here’s what happened.

Trip Info #

Dates: 08.04.19 – 13.04.19 (6 days)
Trail: Lycian Way / Likya Yolu, section hike eastbound from Fethiye, ~100km of the full 503km trail
Budget: ~€10 total
Maps: maps.me (offline)

Gear #

Trail running shoes, 30L Osprey backpack, hiking poles
2-person tent + repair kit, sleeping bag (15°C)
Rain jacket, thermals (top + bottom), long-sleeve top & trousers, sandals
2 pairs socks, 2 underwear, 2 sports bras (one for swimming)
Headlamp, swiss army knife, thin scarf (doubles as towel)
Cooking kit (stove + kettle), 4L water bottles
Sunscreen, toothbrush, toilet paper, wet wipes, plastic bags
1.5kg roasted chickpeas

💧 Water: Plenty of good sources along the trail
🗺️ Tip: Camping spots are marked on maps.me which is very handy

Useful Links #

Itinerary #

Day	Route	Notes
0	Arrive Antalya	Met Emel via Couchsurfing
1	Antalya → Fethiye → Ovacık → Kirme (C1)	Hitchhiked to trailhead
2	Kirme → Kabak (C2)	Past Butterfly Valley
3	Kabak → Gey (C3)	Sheltered with sheep farmers in the rain
4	Gey → Patara (C4)	Hitchhiked the 12km beach section
5	Patara → Kalkan → Kaputaş Beach → Kaş (C5)	Swam at Kaputaş; camped at the amphitheatre
6	Kaş → Demre (Myra) → Phaselis → Antalya	Ancient city tour; hitchhiked back

Day 0: Sunday - Antalya #

I found Emel through Couchsurfing when she accepted my request to stay at her family’s place in Antalya. She greeted me with a huge Turkish breakfast, and we spent the day exploring the city, walking along the beach with comically oversized waffles. That evening I told her about the Lycian Way, one of the oldest trails in Turkey and supposedly one of the most beautiful walks in the world.

“It would be so cool if I could join you,” she said. Then after a pause: “Let me ask my boss tomorrow.”

I thought: highly unlikely. But I was happy she was excited.

Day 1: Monday - Ovacık to Kirme #

When I woke up, she was already at work. At 10:30am, a message: she’d got the week off.

“I’m coming with you!”

By 12:30 we were hitchhiking out of Antalya with full packs. First a truck, then a car, then a minibus to Fethiye, and finally to Ovacık, the trailhead. Three hours total, faster than any bus.

We set off at 15:30, a little late. The first few kilometres were a gentle coastal climb with beautiful sea views. As we gained elevation the fog rolled in, and we found a spot to pitch the tent.

We knew it would rain that night. We didn’t know it would be a full thunderstorm.

It started around 9pm. Wind, then heavy rain, then a tent pole snapping, the whole side collapsed onto us. Then lightning, close enough to light up the sky like a strobe. Then thunder, close enough to shake the ground.

Emel was calm. I was frantically Googling “what to do in a lightning storm while camping.” Lesson learned: know your storm protocols before you need them. Bring a tent repair kit.

We made it through, hunched inside, covering our eyes and ears. Looking back, it’s exactly those moments that make you feel how small and alive you are.

Day 2: Tuesday - Kirme to Kabak #

We slept in.

The walk took us through villages and past Butterfly Valley, worth a detour for the views. There’s a steep path down to the beach, but with the wet ground from the night before, we skipped it.

We met a group of Ukrainians on the trail, and a Russian man hiking with his family gave us a tent pole splint to fix our broken pole. It saved the rest of the trip. The kindness of strangers, honestly.

Day 3: Wednesday - Kabak to Gey #

A beautiful morning, followed by pouring rain. We took the coastal route, well-marked but narrow and bushy, and got completely soaked.

(Lesson 2: waterproof packing cubes. Plastic bags are not enough.)

Walking through it, Emel and I talked about languages and shared passions. She speaks Turkish, English, Korean, and both Turkish and International Sign Language, she’s half-deaf, and her parents are both deaf. She reads lips. We also invented our own language of gestures, made up songs, and laughed hysterically through the cold for no reason at all.

When the rain got too heavy to continue, we started to pitch the tent roadside, and then another stranger appeared. A man in his 50s, working a nearby sheep farm, gestured us into a little hut where he and his wife had a fire going. They were waiting out the rain before riding home on their motorbike.

We dried our clothes by the fire, slept next to the sheep. The sheep were being kept for Eid.

Day 4: Thursday - Gey to Patara #

An early start, right after dawn.

Around noon we reached Patara beach and napped in the sun. Then we hitchhiked the 12km beach stretch, surprisingly easy despite minimal traffic, and passed some Xanthos ruins along the way. We restocked food in town and ended up sleeping in the Patara National Park car park.

We were not supposed to do that. We slept like babies.

Day 5: Friday - Patara to Kaş #

A beautiful five-hour morning walk to Kalkan. The trail was overgrown in places and we fought through the stinging bushes with our poles feeling like absolute warriors. Long sleeves: seriously recommended.

From Kalkan we hitchhiked to Kaputaş Beach, turquoise water, dramatic cliffs. We stripped off our dusty hiking clothes and jumped straight in. Completely worth the stop.

Then on to Kaş - Emel’s hometown. We pitched the tent on top of the ancient amphitheatre, apparently the only one in the world that faces the sea.

Day 6: Saturday - Kaş to Antalya #

We spent the morning wandering Kaş, Emel’s first time back in a while. Then hitchhiked to Demre to see the Myra ruins, then to Phaselis for a picnic and a swim before heading back to Antalya.

By the time we got back it was dark, but Emel’s parents were up and fed us an enormous amount of food. Her father is also an adventurer, still hitchhikes, completely deaf and non-verbal. I found I communicated better with her family than with many people I share a language with. They’re so expressive and full of presence. It was a whole new world.

The Short Version #

We walked ~100km, slept through a thunderstorm, survived pouring rain and burning sun and stinging bushes, hitchhiked on the back of an open truck (a dream for both of us), and were saved repeatedly by the kindness of strangers.

This is when we found a street plate with Emel’s Instagram handle on it.

Emel made a short video of the trip, watch it here. She’s also done hitchhiking trips to the Balkans and Jordan, worth a follow (@secretgarden07).

Sometimes no-plan really is the best plan.